So first of all, I'll lay down a couple of rules to stop people getting a little too feral while discussing.
1) Try not to flood with more than one major discussion at a time, things could get pretty cluttered.
2) Be civil please! Act like wolves, not humans (don't take that too literally)
3) Try to stay on topic (links to the first thing, but just in case things that warrant a seperate topic sneak up)
And that's about it. Hopefully this could become a valuable little thread in terms of information and ideas.
I'll kick things off:
Personally, I'm a firm believer that therianthropy is a neurobiological phenomena which could be explained in a scientific way (though I'm no expert biologist yet, so in laman's terms, faulty/different wiring). Though I believe this, it doesn't stop me from pondering about alternative explinations, which brings me to my point.
I've recently been casually looking into Buddhism, Zen in particular. Some of their ideas and beliefs appeal to me so I try to incorporate some into my everyday life to generally be a better person. I was researching on the internet about their beliefs in reincarnation, and it struck me that it could link to therianthropy.
The basic Buddhist belief is that if you have lived a good life, when you die, you will be reborn in one of the more favourable 6 realms of reincarnation (usually down to animals, as bad deeds are inescapable), which are:
1)Beings in hell
2)Hungry Ghosts
3)Animals
4)Asura
5)Humans
6)Deva
So it is possible for a good animal to have been reincarnated as a human, which got me thinking.
There are stories of people recalling past lives, fairly legit stories too. These are presented as proof of reincarnation (as are mental tendancies and personality)*. Now if people can recall past lives as people, sticking with the theory of reincarnation, what's to say people can't have recollection of an animal past life?
This could manifest itself in many ways, possibly a 'shift' if the recollection is intense enough. But as there is belief that mental tendancy and personality are also connected to past lives, then this could be what is collectively and commonly known as therianthropy.
Keep in mind that this is purely just a theory and a musing (I, myself, don't actually believe in reincarnation 100%. I take the proof into account, but things seem rather 'hazy' surrounding the subject) but I would like to hear some thoughts and feedback on this.
* http://www.aboutreincarnation.org/proof.php/
http://paranormal.about.com/library/wee ... 32502b.htm
I hope this thread will serve a good purpose, and that this first topic generates some interest.
Joe.
